Can I collect Gift Aid on pledges?

If eligible for it, you can collect Gift Aid on pledges made to your crowdfunding campaign. You will need to contact backers at the end of your campaign to find out if their pledge is eligible.

Projects created by charities or CASCs can ask backers if they are eligible to claim Gift Aid on their pledge. Because donations on Spacehive are conditional (only taken from backers if the project reaches its target) you cannot make the claim until the project has hit its crowdfunding target, meaning Gift Aid donations you collect will not count towards your crowdfunding target. Claims made via Charities Online are normally paid within 20 working days of HMRC receiving the claim.

How to do it

At the end of your campaign, you need to post an update which will go out as an email to all your backers. Your message should request that the backer provide you with the information needed to claim Gift Aid, which is a postcode and confirmation statement (confirming they’ve paid more in income tax than the value of their pledge). Make sure you include the email address that you would like them to respond to in the body of your message, or else their reply will go to Spacehive rather than you.